How Did The Mckinley Affect The Election Of 1896

During the 1896 elections William McKinley was running against William Jennings Bryan for president (DeGregorio). McKinley won the majority of electors and entered his first term as president (Bassett). After winning over the people during the elections McKinley went straight to work by helping the people. The time when the 1896 elections were happening the United States was ongoing depression.
The depression of 1893 was extremely significant to the history and lasted until 1897. The unemployment rate was more than ten percent for half a decade. The unemployment of the people caused them to be poor; there was less food for families because they couldn’t support themselves without a job. President McKinley stepped in and decided to help the people who were poor. McKinley sent trains loaded completely with food to bring them to the poor

who were suffering from unemployment (History.com). William McKinley helped America overcome one of the biggest obstacles in the 1890’s.
McKinley developed and created several thoughts and ideas to help America. One of his many creations was the Dingley Tariff act or known as the McKinley Tariff. The Dingley Tariff act replaced the Wilson-Gorman administration (DeGregorio). The Tariff was developed in 1897, it raised the average rate on imports to 46 percent and raised higher to 57 percent (DeGregorio). What the Tariff did was tax highly on foreign goods to protect the factories and businesses from foreign competition (Bassett). William McKinley also promoted pluralism within different ethnic groups. By promoting pluralism, he allowed there to be more than one church or religion in the United States (DeGregorio). McKinley really made this country have more diversity among the people.
On February 15, 1898 the United States battleship Maine was sunk; the conspiracy is that a Spanish mine blew the ship up (History.com). The U.S. press put in the headlines that the Spanish bombed our battleship (History.com). McKinley was trying to avoid war at all costs, but with the McKinley administration, they knew how to give stories, feed, and keep the press informed (History.com). McKinley was pressured by the press to engage in a war with Spain. McKinley then declared war on Spain; creating the Spanish-American war (History.com). The United States easily defeated the Spanish within a short 6 months, but the war ended with the Treaty of Paris on October 1, 1898. McKinley ceded Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines out of the treaty. The Treaty of Paris was created to declare Cuba’s independence (History.com).
Shortly after the Spanish-American war ended the Philippine war began. America purchased the Philippines during the Treaty. Before Spain had control of the Philippines and now the Americans had control, which made the Philippine people aggravated. They did not want to become a colony controlled by another country. February of 1899 the Filipino forces began the war with the American army (World Book Encyclopedia). The Filipino independence was delayed for the Philippine people until 1947.
McKinley showed a great interest in China and his new policy would change the world forever. McKinley pushed the “Open Door” policy through Congress, many disagreed with the policy. The congress pulled through and passed the “Open Door” policy (History.com). The policy was to open doors to world affairs; McKinley had extreme commercial interests with China to develop world markets. The people in China would be able to trade with countries worldwide. Soon after the “Open Door” policy was accepted came the unforgettable Boxer Rebellion (DeGregorio). The Boxer Rebellion was a group of Chinese converts who were killing people. They also would cast spells on themselves, they thought that they were bulletproof. The British, German, Russian, Japanese and American troops came together to subdue the “Boxers”.
The Hawaiian Islands asked William McKinley to be annexed into the United States (Mckenny).

He brought the idea to the congress and many of the congressmen disagreed with the idea of annexing the Hawaiian Islands. After several weeks of discussing and disagreement they fell through and decided to annex the Hawaiian Islands. In July 1898 the United States signed a joint congressional decision to annex the Hawaiian Islands (Mckenny). Now connected to the Hawaiian Islands McKinley started an effort to build the Panama Canal (DeGregorio). Also in 1899 the United States signed a treaty with Germany and the United Kingdom. With the treaty we gained what is now part of the American Samoa (Mckenny).
William McKinley runs for president against William Jennings Bryan for his second term in the presidential seat (DeGregorio). William Jennings Bryan tried taking a different approach with this election, he used McKinley’s strategies from the last election. Unfortunately his strategies weren’t catching the people’s attention. William McKinley already had the people in his favor, with this second election McKinley won by a long shot

(DeGregorio).
McKinley and the congress proposed the Gold Standard act as soon as he was elected to his second term (History.com). The United States formally placed money on a gold standard. Meaning gold was the only standard in receiving paper money. It stopped people from practicing bimetallism which held silver as a monetary standard. They wanted to keep the value of the dollar high, so they used gold as the standard system (History.com). Several people disagreed with gold standard because it caused agricultural products to reduce prices. There was a big dispute about wanting to change the standard to gold and silver (History.com).
However by 1901 President McKinley wanted to revise some of the many polices he had made before. McKinley decided he no longer supported the big business growth; known as the McKinley Tariff. Too furthermore McKinley was traveling to try and persuade the people to agree with his proposition to end the Tariff. In September 1901 McKinley scheduled a visit to Pan-American exposition in Buffalo, New York (World Book Encyclopedia). The theme of the exposition extolled the wonder of electricity (DeGregorio). In Addition on September 6, 1901 McKinley welcomed visitors at the exposition stadium and said “No one wish to hurt me.” McKinley was exposing himself to danger (Bassett). As he stood at the head of the reception line in the temple of music his famous hand shake moved each person on their way. As a result to putting himself in danger a man named Leon Czolgosz went to shake President McKinley’s hand and point blank shot him two times (Bassett). Most importantly it wasn’t until eight days later the president died of gangrene (DeGregorio). Most and foremost this was the end of the William McKinley era.